"He could’ve stayed with his family" - Jayson Tatum's dad still unhappy about son's lack of playing time in 2024 Olympics
Jayson Tatum's dad is still unhappy about the 2024 Paris Olympics. After winning a championship with the Boston Celtics, Jayson Tatum joined Team USA this summer in Las Vegas for training camp for the 2024 Paris Olympics. While the expectation was that Tatum would play an integral role in the team's success in Paris, Tatum's minutes were inconsistent.
After averaging 20.0 minutes per game through the first two games of the Group Phase in Paris, Tatum sat out Team USA's third Group Phase game against Serbia.
While he shot just 1-5 from the floor in Team USA's quarterfinal game against Brazil, Jayson Tatum was benched for Team USA's rematch with Serbia in the semifinals.
While he played 11 minutes in Team USA's gold medal game against France, his dad, Justin Tatum, is still frustrated. He weighed in on the situation during an interview with AndScape this week.
“I was OK with it if it made sense. If it made sense not to play him like a matchup, but if you can’t find time for him or whatever Steve Kerr said. That don’t make too much sense. ... He wasn’t good with not playing. But he wasn’t in the room pouting or throwing chairs around or it was a topic of conversation at dinner," he said.
"He said he could’ve stayed with his family, stayed home or done this, which is true. But he was happy to be out there winning the gold and he never really played with LeBron [James], Steph [Curry] or KD [Kevin Durant]. Being around those guys was a great experience and the main thing we were talking about.”
Looking back at Jayson Tatum's comments about playing time in the Olympics
Last season, Jayson Tatum picked up his fifth straight All-Star selection while being named to the All-NBA First Team for the third year straight. While he struggled to maintain his efficiency in the postseason, shooting a career-low 28.3% from downtown, he and the Celtics won an NBA title.
After averaging 35.7 mpg in the regular season and 40.4 mpg postseason, Tatum averaged just 17.7 mpg throughout the Olympics. As he told The Athletic back in August after winning gold, while he wanted to play more, the team accomplished its goal of winning gold.
“It was a lot. In the age of social media, you see everything You see all the tweets and the people on the podcasts and people on TV giving their opinion on whether they thought it was a good decision or it was an outrageous decision or whatever."
"Obviously, I wanted to contribute more, and I’ve never been in (this) situation. I started playing basketball at (age) 3 at the YMCA, and I’ve never not played, so it was different and it was challenging.”
With star players LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry all expected to retire before the 2028 Olympics, Tatum will have a chance to be the frontman for Team USA when Los Angeles holds the next summer Olympics.
While he was frustrated with his playing time in Paris, he also made it clear that the experience would not impact his decision to play in 2028.